荷兰外长因捏造普京言论辞职

The Dutch foreign minister stood down on Tuesday after admitting lying about a meeting in which he claimed President Vladimir Putin had laid out his aim for a “Greater Russia”.

荷兰外交大臣哈尔伯•泽尔斯特拉(Halbe Zijlstra)周二宣布辞职。此前，他承认自己就一次会面撒了谎，他曾称在那次会面上，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)设定了其建立“大俄罗斯”的目标。

The resignation of Halbe Zijlstra, a key ally of Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, could weaken the Netherlands’ fragile four-party coalition government after only four months in office.

泽尔斯特拉是荷兰首相马克•吕特(Mark Rutte)的关键盟友，他的辞职可能会动摇荷兰上台才四个月的、根基不稳的四党联合政府。

Mr Zijlstra on Monday admitted he had not told the truth in 2016 when he claimed that 10 years earlier he had heard Mr Putin express his expansionist ambitions at a meeting at the president’s dacha near Moscow.

泽尔斯特拉周一承认他在2016年没有说实话，当时他声称10年前他在普京位于莫斯科附近的乡间别墅的一次会面上听到了这位总统的扩张主义野心。

Mr Putin was alleged to have said that Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic states and Kazakhstan were parts of “Greater Russia” at a meeting with senior executives from energy giant Shell, where Mr Zijlstra worked as a contractor.

据称普京在与能源巨头壳牌(Shell)高管们的一次会面上表示，白俄罗斯、乌克兰、波罗的海国家和哈萨克斯坦是“大俄罗斯”的组成部分。泽尔斯特拉当时在壳牌担任承包商。

Mr Zijlstra made the claims while campaigning in the Dutch general election.

泽尔斯特拉是在荷兰大选造势期间说的这番话。

But Mr Zijlstra told the newspaper de Volkskrant on Monday he had lied about being present at the meeting. He said he had witnessed the comments first-hand to protect his source — former Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer — who was at the meeting. Mr van der Veer has since clarified the “Greater Russia” remarks were referring to Russia’s “historical” context.

但他周一向《人民报》(De Volkskrant)表示，他在出席那次会面的事情上撒了谎。他说他之所以说自己亲耳听见普京那么说，是因为要保护他的消息源，即前壳牌首席执行官范德伟(Jeroen van der Veer)，后者出席了那次会面。范德伟后来澄清说，“大俄罗斯”言论指的是俄罗斯的“历史”背景。

Mr Zijlstra had been due in Moscow on Wednesday for what would have been an awkward meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. But he told the Dutch parliament he was quitting his post forthwith.

泽尔斯特拉原定于周三在莫斯科与俄罗斯外长谢尔盖•拉夫罗夫(Sergei Lavrov)会晤，若按原计划进行，这将是一次尴尬的会面。但泽尔斯特拉向荷兰议会表示自己将立即辞职。

Mr Zijlstra said he had made “the biggest mistake of my political life”.

他说，他犯了“自己政治生涯中最大的错误”。

"The Netherlands deserves a minister who is above any doubt,” he said, adding he was stepping down with “regret but full conviction in my heart”.

他表示：“荷兰的大臣应当是无可指摘的。”他还说，自己带着懊悔之意下台，但心中充满了信念。

Russia’s embassy in The Hague described Mr Zijlstra’s comments as the product of “someone’s inflamed imagination”.

俄罗斯驻海牙大使馆称，泽尔斯特拉的言论是“某人想象力爆棚”的产物。

“In the Netherlands, Russia is being blamed for disseminating disinformation. Dutch officials are constantly making such unfounded statements,” said the embassy in a statement.

该大使馆发在一份声明中表示：“在荷兰，俄罗斯一直因不断传播的虚假消息而受到指责。荷兰官员经常发表这种毫无根据的言论。

“This can only be heard from those who are interested in presenting Russia as an enemy and who under the pretext of the notorious ‘Russian threat’ keep pushing Nato military infrastructure eastwards, therefore consciously provoking military confrontation.”

“这些言论只能从那些有意把俄罗斯刻画成敌人、以及那些以臭名昭著的‘俄罗斯威胁’为借口不断向东推进北约(Nato)军事基础设施、从而有意识地挑起军事对抗的人口中听到。”

Relations between the Netherlands and Russia have been severely strained since the downing of a Malaysian Airlines flight over Ukraine in 2014 with 196 Dutch passengers on board. Dutch investigators claimed the plane was shot down by pro-Russian separatists using a Russian missile.

2014年马来西亚航空(Malaysian Airlines)一架班机在乌克兰上空被击落，机上有196名荷兰乘客。自那时起，荷俄关系就陷入严重紧张。荷兰调查人员称，这架班机是亲俄分离主义分子用一枚俄罗斯导弹击落的。